I've got an 11" Edge SCT mounted on my EQ6 and I'm having a bit of an issue. If anyone owes an EQ6 you probably have noticed the difficulty in adjusting the altitude. Its absolutely terrible with a 30 lbs telescope and counterweights on it (necessary for accurate drift alignment).

Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions or creative solutions to easing my altitude pains?

get bolts with hex heads and use a long wrench, be careful
it is not to get them wrench tight just that the leverage
from length gives you fine control. ALWAYS remember to
loosen the opposite side before tightening.

A little lithium grease on the threads helps. Then, of course you need to loosen the opposite bolt before trying to tighten one - not doing so can result in damage to your hand if not to the mount. Adjusting the altitude down is no problem on my Atlas. When it's necessary to raise the altitude, I just lift up on the counterweight bar with my other hand while turning the bolt.

If the problem is adjusting the mount with the load on it, then, as recommended, you should adjust the mount without the load or phyically lift the head when trying to move it upward and let the weight move it downward.

If the problem is that the latitude axis is too stiff to move even when the mount is not loaded, then simply replacing the handles may result in stripping the threaded holes and damaging the tongue that the rods push up against. The best thing to do in this case is to remove the side plates, disassemble the axis, and replace the set screws with thumb screws so that the tightness of the axis can be adjusted. The result looks like this:

If the problem is adjusting the mount with the load on it, then, as recommended, you should adjust the mount without the load or phyically lift the head when trying to move it upward and let the weight move it downward.

If the problem is that the latitude axis is too stiff to move even when the mount is not loaded, then simply replacing the handles may result in stripping the threaded holes and damaging the tongue that the rods push up against. The best thing to do in this case is to remove the side plates, disassemble the axis, and replace the set screws with thumb screws so that the tightness of the axis can be adjusted. The result looks like this:

I do what Uncle Rod suggested. Polar align with EQMOD without scope or counterweights and then load up my imaging payload. In my case the process has worked and the polar alignment holds just fine for the purpose of accurate gotos or autoguiding.

I am considering a combination of modifications but not until the end of this observing season. First, stainless steel thread inserts. Second custom bolts with rosette knobs. Third, reinforce the "tongue" with an epoxied piece of steel where the bolt makes contact. All of these have been reported here on CN at one time or another.

The OP complained about the difficulty of adjusting the altitude while drift aligning - in order to drift align, you must have the telescope and counterweights on the mount. Still, I have no problem doing it by lifting up on the counterweights while turning the adjustment bolt, as long as I didn't forget to loosen the opposite bolt.

The problem with thread inserts in this situation is that the aluminum casting is not very thick. Thread inserts are best used where they are being installed either into a blind hole or material that is at least 1/2 inch thick. In thinner material the thread insert are not likely to hold very well.

The OP complained about the difficulty of adjusting the altitude while drift aligning - in order to drift align, you must have the telescope and counterweights on the mount. Still, I have no problem doing it by lifting up on the counterweights while turning the adjustment bolt, as long as I didn't forget to loosen the opposite bolt.

That's exactly what I did last night centering Polaris in the right place in the polar scope on my NEQ6 mount. A few turns on the North facing side and good to go well loosening the other side at the same time. This with the scope and mount fully loaded with weight {3-11 lbs counterweights/37 lbs OTA}

I was going to replace the stock adjusters by the way but after removing one and discovering it was heavy steel I decided it was a waste of cash to replace them after all.

Just remember to lift and adjust and loosen the opposite side and all is fine ....

Unless Synta have chnaged them the stock adjusters may LOOK like heavy steel but they aint, they are known round these parts as bendy bolts. I have lost track of how many folks end up bending them and getting them out again if they bend can be a real pain.
It can be even worse because they can bend slightly and progressively wreck the threads on the mount.

To me its just not worth the headaches of dealing with the problems later so I always say replace them.

The worst I had to deal with was a mount where one bolt in the hands of a novice had been bent about 20' out of line. It was a pleasant sunday needle filing it away as it was bent on both sides of the casings and wouldnt budge either direction.

Even with careful use thay have been known to bend. My HEQ5 was never really under much use or load when I first had it and was handled carefully, mindful of the bendy problems but one of the bolts still bent after only a few outings.

The ones on mine aren't soft metal and taking one fully out showed it was dead straight and heavy in weight when held in my hand...these on a heavily used mount I recently purchased for reference. No problems yet for this new owner

I have had to cut a number of these out of mounts due to them being bent. Definitely not my favorite thing to do. The higher your latitude, the more likely you are to bend the bolt due to the angle of the tongue that it presses against. I never seen one that was anything other than relatively soft, chrome-plated steel.

Yes - this mount has been seriously abused BUT in fairnesss my HEQ5 never was, even with just a few nights use when new the bolts started to show signs of bending.

The bolt material is way too soft - though its a perisher to hacksaw just the same and if you strip the threads on the mount its a real pain to fix with stuff like helicoils.

I agree $30 is a lot for two bolts but when I did mine I just couldnt be bothered searching round endless catalogues so just stumped up. My time gets eaten enough without spending more of it on ploughing through engineering sites catalogues of bolts. I did find an alternate supplier who was charging less (£10 for all four) so I spent 40 mins driving there, bought the bolts which were supposed to be super duper aircraft grade blah blah only to find the threads were not correct, manufactured to too sloppy a tolerance and didnt fit. Glorious waste of my time in pursuit of saving a few $$$$.

After that I just though - to hell with it - buy the AstroDev ones like everyone else rather than waste any more time.

With very careful handling the factory supplied bolts might well be ok but most of us at some time have made some glorious mess at 3am when your freezing in a field - I'd like to have a bit of tolerance from the kit rather than a weekends work messing about putting it right. I'd rather be having a frothy coffee and looking at shoe catalogues or having my nails done than going through the hassle of fixing this kind of preventable accident.

Remember this ones an extreme example but the bolt doesnt have to get too far adrift before its uselss and possibly wrecking the mount threads and costing you time and cash - if you get into a real mess whatever you save on the bolts is liklely to be peanuts compared to the cost of putting it right - assuming you value your time and dont have a fetish for iron filings

I live is an area which is bereft of anywhere to get any tool more complex than a screwdriver and any fitting thats not a dry wall fixing. All the classic hardware shops have gone and left us with supposed DiY shops which sell microwaves, televisions and lawnmowers....I suppose TV is a kind if DiY ...it wont watch itself

Seriously though if you need tools round these parts I have to take. Aday off work as the only store that does serious stuff only opens Monday to Friday when I am at work.